Reprinted from www.snookhaven.org
Written by Brandon Shuler | 11 May 2010
How does one capture the drama of a slow-moving train wreck? We all want to look away from the mercurial unraveling of the Deep Water Horizon story, but as fingers of rainbow sheen and large tar balls begin washing up on the wetlands and in the passes of Louisiana from the Chandeluer Islands to Cocodrie Peninsula, we can’t. We’re riveted. We want answers. We want solutions. We want explanation.
photo: Brandon Shuler, in LA, with Jon Brett
Jon Brett, SF Florida Gulf Coast Director, and I will be on the ground collecting the stories that interest Snook Foundation members. We will tell the underrepresented side of the news. We will capture the devastation this spill will create as it encroaches and infuses into the delicate wetlands and marshes of Louisiana, vital nursery habitat for grouper and snapper and other species.
These wetlands and nurseries are disappearing from the Louisiana coast and Mississippi River delta at the alarming rate of 500 square yards every 45 minutes and represent the breeding grounds which supply 25% of the nation’s seafood production.
We are capturing the stories of the Louisiana shrimper and fishermen as they watch their livelihoods attacked by another, yet this time man-made, disaster. We have witnessed and tried to unravel the frustrating rumors that run rampant through these little fishing communities who tie their entire financial well-being to the bounty of a healthy eco-system.
Every glimmer of hope or shadow of doom sends the scuttlebutts roaring and emotions run raw and frightened to elated and hopeful.
Our aim is to provide quality updates through the snookfoundation.org website, our social media page on Facebook, and through our trip blog, drilledbybp.com. We are posting daily updates and video stories to give an accurate portrayal of the events as they unfold.
